


Crushed & Broken

by Therm (Mister_Spock)



Category: The A-Team (TV)
Genre: Torture, Violence
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-02
Updated: 2017-12-02
Packaged: 2019-02-09 16:01:22
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 12,433
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12891495
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Mister_Spock/pseuds/Therm
Summary: Murdock is taken hostage





	Crushed & Broken

**Author's Note:**

> Written in 2004 when I was still a newbie writer.   
> Has not been edited at all.

Murdock paced up and down in his room, waiting for them.

Face had said they'd call as soon as they got a minute.

That was three days ago.

The team had got back from a mission, knowing Decker was on their case, they dropped Murdock off at the VA before the MP's got wind of where they were.

As Murdock had left the van, Face had told him they'd call him soon. Soon as in a day or two.

Murdock had gone into the VA, been given a lecture about his absence and was taken to his room, waiting for Richter to turn up and shout at him and to leave him to think about what he'd done. 

Well, Richter had turned up, shouted, and left.

But, it was alright, Murdock had thought to himself, soon enough the guys would call him and Face would make him laugh about something he'd thought about from the trip, and the lecture by the nurse and the telling off from Richter would be worth it because he'd had a great time.

But without the call, it was just a telling off.

He'd been reasonable the first day. After all, Murdock was at the VA about 3pm, so it was probably a while before the guys shook Decker off and then they had probably crashed, they were all pretty beat.

The second day, Murdock reasoned that maybe they were still sleeping in the morning. And when 12pm came, he thought that they must have gone to get some food. But as the afternoon drug on longer and longer, Murdock ran out of excuses for his friends.

The third day was the hardest.

He'd hardly left his room for fear he'd miss the call.

But now, as he sat on his bed watching the sun set, he guessed he'd have to wait another day for them to call.

If they didn't call tomorrow, he'd just have to go find them.

**

"Okay, Face go make the call, but hurry up." Hannibal said from the front seat of the car.

It had bothered them all that Decker and the MP's had been tailing them for nearly three days straight.

The phone had been busted during their last case, Murdock had been a little too enthusiastic in his impression of E.T phoning home, and while BA struggled to get the phone back off Murdock, it just sort of, crunched up. 

BA had attempted fixing it, but several pieces he needed to complete the job were missing from his mass collection of spares in the van. So, it had stayed broken, and Murdock would be the one left worrying.

BA had also insisted on driving, not wanting Hannibal to be on the jazz with the MP's behind. He'd seen how Face treated his corvette at times, and he cared too much for his van for Face to wreck it.

The fatigue was getting to them all, whereas the MP's were interchangeable, when one group had worked for a few hours, a new car took over and so it continued.

They had ditched the van when the had lost the MP's briefly, hoping that it would help them in their escape. 

If Hannibal hadn't insisted Face go get him some more cigars, having actually run out, they could have carried on evading the MP's 

But it had all gone wrong, when the MP's had spotted BA filling up on petrol.

Face dug into his pocket for some change, pulling out enough loose change for a quick call to the pilot.

Face told Murdock that he'd call him when he returned to his apartment and his friend would probably have expected a call after a couple of days. 

It had been nearly three days, heck, make that four as the sun was beginning to rise on a new day, and Murdock would probably be out of his mind with worry.

Hannibal watched as Face put the money in the slot and dialled Murdock's number, waiting for the pilot to answer.

It was nearly 4:30am, Murdock would probably be asleep, but Hannibal knew he wouldn't be mad to be woken with by a friendly call.

Murdock picked up on the third ring.

"Hello?" Murdock said, sounding strangely alert for the time.

"Hey, just a call to let you know we're okay, but we've had the military on us since we dropped you off. We even had to ditch the van, not that it helped." Face said.

"You need me to bail you out?" Murdock asked, already starting to think about where he could get a chopper from.

"No, we're okay. They've never been that close, they're just being pesky. I'll call you again as soon as I can, but it might not be for a while. We may have to go futher afield to dodge them." Face said.

"Well okay, but if I don't hear anything from you in, er, five days, I'm coming to find you." Murdock said.

"Okay. I promise I'll do my best to call before then. I'd better hurry up, you take care of yourself and I'll see you soon. BA sends his love." Face said, watching Hannibal and BA in the car and to see if they'd heard. Hannibal had a smirk on his face, but BA remained neutral.

Murdock laughed. "Guessing the big guys not anywhere near you."

"Of course not, I'd rather jump of Niagara falls than let BA hear me say that. Look, I gotta go. Speak to you soon."

"Okey dokey." Murdock said, hanging up.

Face did like wise and headed back to the car.

"Whatcha sayin' about me, sucka?" BA said, looking menacingly round at Face.

Damn, where were the Niagara falls when you needed them?

******

Part two

It had been three days since Face had called, but Murdock was more content at the moment.

The team were fine and they had a slight Decker problem, but if they had any real trouble they would have asked Murdock to help them out. It was easier for him to get them out of Decker's way then it was to break them out from under Decker's nose, although not impossible.

Richter had Murdock back on schedule, some extra therapy sessions had been arranged to make up for the one's he'd missed.

It was all going well, really. The doctor wasn't pissed at him any more, which was always good, although he still wanted to know where Murdock had been.

But, it being a beautiful day, Murdock had asked to go into the gardens. Richter had agreed to let him go, as a show of the trust he had in him, but had made Murdock promise not to go. It was a promise that Murdock knew he could make right now, the team weren't in any position to accept jobs, so he could reassure Richter without having to cross his fingers.

He took his baseball cap with him, his jacket still in the van where he had left it, but he didn't need it right now, it was nice weather at the moment.

He just wanted to lay on the grass and watch the planes overhead, simple things.

If he'd been alert to what was on the ground rather than what was in the air, he may have noticed the car parked opposite the VA and the men inside who were watching him.

They were getting ready to make their move.

******

Face sat down on the chair, feeling incredibly pleased to have solid ground under his feet.

BA had dropped him off first, at Face's only proper apartment. 

This was the emergency one he had, just in case he didn't have a chance to scam one, just like now.

Hannibal would go out to his own apartment, as would BA, they all had a 'safe house' where they could stay. They weren't as luxurious as the places they usually had, they were more homely.

They had decided it would be best if they stayed separate, just in case Decker was still trying to locate them. If any of them got picked up by Decker, the others were still free to help the escape.

Face looked at the time, it was early in the morning, too early, and he still had one day left to call Murdock.

He'd call him first thing in the morning, he knew they were safe at least, and Face had a day in hand before Murdock would start the rescue mission.

He'd wait for the calls from Hannibal and BA to let him know they were okay, then he'd rest.

His eyes felt so heavy, he knew he'd have trouble staying awake for the calls to come in, but after that, he could rest.

Tomorrow he'd call Murdock, let them know they were back local and then he'd sleep some more.

Now, that was a plan.

******

BA had slept well.

After dropping Face and Hannibal off, he'd called them, washed up, then hit the sack.

This morning, he'd woke up feeling refreshed.

It was amazing what sleeping in a bed could do.

It was still early in the morning, well early by Face's standards, but BA was never one to lay in.

He had to throw out all the bad milk from his fridge, the last case had come up rather suddenly and he'd just brought four bottles. Such a waste.

He'd go down to the youth centre and pick some milk up on the way home, couldn't have no milk at his place.

Although this was supposed to be the emergency housing, BA nearly always stayed here. It was closest to the youth centre and it really had become a home to him.

He made a quick call to Alexandria, a lady who also helped out at the centre, told her he'd drop by this morning if she wanted to sort things out at home.

She was grateful, told him that she had some house work to be done, she had four kids of her own so had lots of house work to do, and he'd thanked her and said his goodbyes.

He still had the car, he hated having left the van, but they'd have to wait to pick it up. It wasn't a flashy car, like the corvette, just a simple little thing, but BA had no real interest in it.   
It wasn't his van, so he didn't care much.

The van would be good to pick up in a couple of days. 

Hell, it could wait, the kids at the youth centre needed him more. As much as he loved the van, he knew it was still only a machine and the people in his life were more important than it was. Besides, he was a genius, he could fix up any damage done to it, like he had numerous times before.

BA left the apartment, quickly grabbing the keys, and made his way to the youth centre. BA, Alexandria and a few others all helped out there quite often, BA making very generous cash donations to help the place, anonymously, of course. 

He got there quickly, unlocking the door at the centre, watching as a small pile of mail was shoved along with it.

He picked it all up, looking round as some of the local kids had spotted him and were heading over. It was a little earlier than he usually opened, but some of the kids got here early, anything to get them away from there home lives.

BA leafed through the mail, junk mail to go in the bin, bills, he'd take care of them, a couple for Alex. He'd leave them on the desk for her to see when she next came in.

There was also a plain envelope, nothing written on it, probably more junk, but maybe it was something important, a cry for help from a kid or parent. It was worth a look anyway.

He heard some yelling and screaming from outside and looked up to the open door to see what was happening as a Melanie, a local kid ran towards him.

"BA,Tommy and Ricky are fighting!" She yelled, breathless.

He dropped the mail on the table, and ran outside to break up the fighting pair.

Never a dull moment.

******

Part three

Hannibal rifled through the mail, hoping to find something of interest in it.

The top letter caught his attention.

Putting the rest down as he sat on the sofa, lighting a morning cigar and opened it up.

He nearly dropped his cigar on the floor when he saw what was in it.

Oh, God he couldn't believe what he was seeing.

He'd got the part. He would be the monster in the new film, 'Creature from another earth'

They were keen to see him again, a note attached to the good news asking him to call soon as they hadn't been able to get hold of him by phone.

If he didn't get back to them by the 13th they'd re-cast the part.

It was only the 7th today. 

He got up and dialled Face's number, ready to tell him the good news.

******

"I don't believe this." Face muttered to himself, reaching across to answer the phone. "Yeah?" 

"Face, it's Hannibal, you're never gonna guess what happened. I got the lead in 'Creature from another earth'" Hannibal said.

"What? That red jellyfish thing. They're really gonna make that?" Face said. He could hear the pride bursting from Hannibal's voice, what was it with him and monsters?

"It's not a jellyfish, it's from a parallel universe where jellyfish are equivalent to the human race, so they're more like us." Hannibal enthused

'Oh, God, it sounds so bad', Face thought. "That's great, I'm very happy for you. Can I get some sleep now?" 

"Sleep, Face it's 9:30, you should be up by now." Hannibal said, smiling as he heard Face groan. "Well, anyway, I'm gonna take a trip to meet the director again, if any of you guys wanna come along, let me know."

"Okay. Well, err, I'm gonna call Murdock in a bit. He might wanna come along. I really need to get some scams going. Doubt if BA'll come along, though, not with having been away from the youth centre for so long already."

"Right, well I'm gonna call Ronnie, see what he says, he's a great director, Face. Get some sleep kid."

"I will when you stop ringing me." Face answered before putting the phone down.

He dropped his head back to the pillow and pulled the covers up high over his head.

If he were lucky, he could get another hour or so before he had to get up.

******

BA wiped the sweat from his face.

It was gonna be a scorcher of a day, he was already sweating and it wasn't even 11:00 yet.

"Okay, Jake, I want you to look after things for a while I need to take care of some things inside."

"Okay, BA" Jake said, proud that he'd been chosen out of all the kids to be in charge.

BA went inside and grabbed some milk out of the fridge, taking a glass and pouring some of the white liquid into his glass and gulping it down greedily.

He felt better for it and went and sat down at the desk.

Alexandria always kept notes on the kids behaviour, if anyone was causing trouble, or if one of them was acting strangely, in a book which was locked in the desk.

BA got his key to the desk and looked through the last few entries.

Lots of trouble that Tommy had been causing during his absence, he noticed. 

Also a note that he had sported a few bruises on his arms recently. BA knew that sometimes the kids mom would hit him, she just couldn't cope, but it was no excuse for hitting the kid.

He'd have to talk to Tommy later, see how he was, make him know he was a special kid still and he didn't need to fight.

BA noticed the mail from earlier and his attention went back to the letter he was gonna open before being interrupted.

He ripped the corner off, before poking his thumb through and tearing along the top of the envelope.

There was one sheet of paper in it, which he pulled out.

It was blank except the word 'Got him' written in the middle.

BA frowned at the note, folded it up and put it in his pocket, along with the envelope.

He picked up the phone and dialled Hannibal's number. It was engaged.

He redialled, Face's number this time and the phone started to ring.

He waited, hoping Face was in.

******

"If this is Hannibal again....." Face groaned, picking up the receiver. "What?" He snapped.

"Hey Faceman, what's up with you?" BA's gruff voice asked.

"Oh, I thought you were Hannibal, that's all." Face said, not that he was happier being interrupted by BA than he was by Hannibal.

"No, I tried him, his engaged." BA said.

"Wow, that was quick." 

"You got any mail this morning?" BA asked, ignoring Face's comment.

"I dunno, why?" Face inquired.

"I got a strange letter, musta been hand delivered as there's nothing written on it. All it says is 'Got him'."

"Let me have a look. I'll get back to you." Face said. He felt a strange lump in his throat.

He went to check his own mail. There was only one letter on the floor.

Unmarked, delivered in person.

He opened it up.

There was no note, but something at the bottom.

He pulled it out carefully.

A piece of material.

A beige piece of material.

He went back to the bedroom and dialled Hannibal's number.

It was engaged. Still.

He dialled Murdock's.

There was no answer.

He called BA back.

He answered.

Face told him to come pick him up right away.

He hung up and got dressed.

******

Part four

Hannibal had only just put the phone down to Ronnie when it started ringing again.

"Hello?" He said, lifting the receiver back up.

"Hannibal." BA's unmistakable voice boomed out. "You get a weird letter today?" 

Hannibal realised he'd left all his mail unopened after finding out about the job.

"Let me look." He said, noting that BA sounded rather worried.

Hannibal found the one that BA meant, it was the blank one, he wasn't sure how he'd missed it earlier.

BA could hear the ripping of paper as Hannibal undid it.

"It looks like...." Hannibal began, "It's a piece of material. Just a green piece of material." Hannibal said.

"I got one, too, Said 'Got him' on it. I called Face, he had to go check, said he'd call me back. I better go case he tries to call."

"Let me know what going on, BA." Hannibal said.

Hannibal sat down after ending the conversation. 

He didn't feel quite so elated about the the film any more.

******

Murdock hadn't seen who had grabbed him from the VA gardens.

He knew someone was approaching him, but he was too busy watching the sky and the birds flying around freely to really notice who. It wasn't as though people at the VA didn't wonder over sometimes.  
Before now he'd look up when someone was coming over, just to find it was his imagination, and that there was no one there at all. He didn't like to do that to often.

Once he felt the hand go over his mouth and the needle slip into his arm, he was pretty sure it wasn't his imagination. 

Having woken up tied to a chair wasn't a great thing, but he'd woken up to worse than this before.

He had a slight stomach ache and what felt like a huge bruise on his backside over the left side.

He moved slightly in his chair, putting a little more weight on his right side to elevate some of the pressure from the delicate area.

"Hey there, pretty." Said a strangely familiar voice behind him. 

The man stepped round in front of Murdock and he recognised him immediately.

Logan, followed by Deak and Curly. He may not have guessed who from the voice, but he'd never forget these people who had killed one of his close friends.

"Hey fella's." Murdock said cheerily, his emotions veiled behind a calm front.

The three men looked at one another, and two of them left, leaving Murdock with Deak.

"You know, I've got this pain...." Murdock began, glancing behind him, trying to indicate where it hurt without the use of his hands.

"We dropped ya." Deak said, grinning. 

"Well that explains it then." Murdock replied, matching the smile on Deak's face, although Deak's had a sick twist of something in it.

"You know, we're lucky to be here, with ya. Should be in jail 'bout now. Luckily, we got out jus' to come see ya." Deak said.

"Awww, that's so nice. Could have just sent a card, though." Murdock replied. 

"Well, we did send something nice to your team mates, you were just easier to grab, a sittin' duck really."

"I love duck, 'cept that sad little song where the momma duck and her duckies go swimming and every time there are less and less that come back with her."

"Well, don't worry 'bout no ducks. You're in for a treat, coz we gonna fix you up real good."

"Why do I doubt that somehow?" Murdock asked, loosing the playful note that he'd been trying to keep in his voice.

"Well," Said Deak, pulling out a switch knife from his pocket and flicking the blade out. "I do lack credibility."

******

Part five

"So, what did you get?" Hannibal asked, once Face and BA had arrived at his apartment,

Face held out the piece of material, letting Hannibal pull it from his loose grip.

"Murdock." Hannibal said. A statement, not a question. He'd already guessed as much.

Face just gave Hannibal a knowing look.

"Okay. We need to see if they contact us. BA, can you rig up something so that if someone calls the van, it'll automatically divert the call to a different line?" Hannibal asked, clamping a hand on BA's shoulder.

"Yeah, I can do that." BA said nodding.

Still not having the van yet, it was important that if Murdock did try to contact them, someone they trusted would be there.

Hannibal planned for them to get the van soon, but not right yet. The MP's may have found it and the last thing they needed was to be caught by Decker when Murdock could be in big trouble.

"Well, whatever line you have it connected to, someone'll have to be at the phone 24-7." Face added, knowing none of their places would be safe.

"That's the problematic bit." Hannibal said. "I don't want us to be on the road, unless we're heading after Murdock, so the van's the only number Murdock knows, if he rings."

"Hey, mama. I can divert it to my mama. She'll be able to stay in, Karen her neighbour will look after the place if she's not there, but she don't go out for long." 

"Great idea BA." Hannibal enthused. "Okay, get started on that. Face you and I are gonna see if our friend left any clues."

******

BA had called his mama and let her know what they were doing.

He had tried to be vague in detail, not wanting her to worry about them, but somehow she'd made him tell her exactly what was going on.

He'd told her that they thought Murdock had been taken by somebody, but he did manage to leave out all detail about the little clues they had left.

There were something that she just didn't need to know.

He had finished work on the diverted, making it so he could switch it on or off, depending on whether they were in the van or not, as soon as the got the van back it would be best for them to be able to speak to whoever called through.

These guys may have found out where they lived, but it was possible that they had followed them here when they first returned. The van's number was a new one, Hannibal having changed it after too many of Face's girlfriends phoned up for him. Face hadn't had time to give this one out yet.

Face and Hannibal had found no clues to who had delivered the packages, but Hannibal had suspected that they were delivered while the kidnappers were still in the area.  
It was no real surprise that they had found nothing, it was a rather small chance that they'd find something, but it was always worth checking.

The one thing Hannibal kept thinking through was how good Murdock was at escaping. They very rarely had to bail Murdock out, it was mostly the other way round. He was more worried that if Murdock had escaped before BA could make the diverted, he'd have no back up.

They were prepared now, ready for his call, but Hannibal had already started to think of a plan, in case Murdock hadn't escaped.

He was not prepared to let whoever had taken Murdock call all the shots. And they would never get away with taking one of his men.

******

Murdock's eyes felt heavy and he wanted to close them and let sleep envelope him in it's safety.

It wasn't gonna happen.

He'd been kept in the same room for the whole time he'd been here, wasn't sure how long it had been now, but he was certain it wasn't that long.

They had mainly left him on his own, besides from the beating by Deak the first day here.

It hadn't been a severe beating, he'd given him two black eyes which had swollen Murdock's right eye up completely for a while, but it was now going down.

He'd used the knife a little, not much, mainly scare tactics Murdock guessed.

These men had been the ones who'd killed the sheriff and Ray, so Murdock knew that they were capable of murder, but they were moving slowly, taking there time.

That was the worrying part.

******

Six days after the first package had arrived, another came.

This one had been sent through the post, not hand delivered by the creeps.

They had sent it to Hannibal's apartment, where the team had all agreed to stay for safety purposes during the night.

Hannibal had sent Face and BA out to pick the van up, and they had scalword the area again, checking for any clues, certain they must have missed something along the way.

Hannibal hadn't expected anything to come like this, and a little absent-mindedly had opened it.

He had yelled for both BA and Face when he discovered what was in the box.

He just stared at the blue cap, stained with blood, while he heard the approaching footsteps from the others.

"Hannibal, what....." Face called. On seeing the box he let the sentence die.

******  
Part six ******************************** (Little bit of nastiness at the end of this chapter for anyone who's a little worried by gory details)***********************************

"So, whatta we gonna do with him?" Curly asked the other two men as they sat around the table, drinking beer.

"I dunno, it was your idea to grab him and let that A-Team know we had him, you can decide what we do with him now." Logan said, sipping the cool liquid from the bottle.

"Yeah, and I bet they're going crazy worrying what's happened to him." Curly said, laughing at the thought that amused him so.

"Well I thought we were gonna lead 'em here anyway?" Deak added.

"Yeah, but not yet." Curly said. "We gotta send these idiots a real clear message not to mess with us." Alcohol consuming him, he slammed his fist onto the table, "Damn 'em." He yelled.

"Calm down." Logan said yelling back at the man, "If you need to work off some of that stress, get the hell outta this room, we got plenty o' things you can do to that'll work wonders." He grinned a sick grin, his mind on the sort of damage they could do to their prisoner.

Curly stood up and paced the room, his body not able to rest with all the adrenaline pumping through him. He considered Logan's words.

"Yeah, you're right. I'll go set up the next package for those clowns." He said, hatred filling his voice.

"Make it bloody." Logan called after him, wanting to see some real damage next time he visited their prisoner.

******

"They could be killing him. He could be dead already!" Face yelled.

"I know that, Face, whatta you want me to do, search the whole country for him?" Hannibal argued back.

"Yeah, that's exactly what I want you to do, better than just sitting around waiting for the next post to arrive." 

"Don't you think if there was the slightest chance I could find him before we got any more of those packages, that I wouldn't be out there right now?"

"No. I think you're waiting for someone to come along and drop the address on your lap." Face said, anger flaring.

"Cool it, Faceman." BA said. He'd done very little to stop the pair so far, they were both mad at the situation, not each other

As long as things didn't get too out of hand, he'd let them fight as much as they wanted, as long as it remained verbal.

"So, that's what you think, huh? I let one of my team suffer while I just sit back and relax, that's how you think I work, right?" Hannibal demanded from Face.

Face was quiet, thinking at what Hannibal had said, he knew he was being unreasonable in his demands that they simply 'find Murdock', but he couldn't help it, he felt sick with fear.

But he knew he was no more worried than either Hannibal or BA.

He sighed and sat down, all the anger gone and now the despair deep inside of him started to resurface, along with the sickening dread that maybe there really was nothing they could do.

"I'm sorry." Face said. He'd been harsh on Hannibal and he didn't deserve it. Murdock always hated it when the team were fighting with each other, so he'd make the effort for Murdock.

"It's okay, kid, we're all worried. I'm sorry, too." Hannibal laid a hand on Face's shoulder.

"So, what are we gonna do, Hannibal?" BA said.

Hannibal looked to Face, a plan entering his head.

"Face, I want you to find any recent newspapers headlines that cover anyone who we've had dealings with." Hannibal said.

"Seriously, that's about thirteen years worth, Hannibal." Face said. It was a plan, but it was one that was a little hard to execute, and time consuming.

"We've searched for clues already, we've found nothing, we have no leads. BA and I will help you, we have to find something." Hannibal looked to the two men to get their approval of the plan.

"Guess it's all we got." BA said, not happy that it would be such hard work, but the quicker they got on with it, the quicker they could find Murdock.

"Hang on a minute." Face said suddenly. "What about Amy? She went back to journalism, didn't she. Surely she'd know. It may save time." Face said.

"Good idea, Face. Call her up and hopefully, she'll know something." Hannibal agreed. He knew that if Murdock has escaped he'd have called by now.

He knew that they'd find Murdock, he was just worried that they'd be too late.

******

The floor was cold, and it made Murdock cold.

He wished he had his jacket, but he hadn't seen that for a while, he'd left it in the van after the last mission, but that was okay, it was safe.

Murdock had a rushed exit from the van, hearing the sounds of sirens in the distance and it had been a hot day, so he'd taken it off, leaving it behind, for a change.

He was aware that somewhere in the room was a chair, but that would offer him no warmth, not unless he made it into a bonfire, but he couldn't imagine he'd do that.

If Billy had been here he could have used the little dog for warmth, but he'd left Billy in the van with his jacket, Billy had to protect the van, the jacket and the guys.

Murdock reconsidered his generous nature, seeing he was in a pretty bad situation himself right now.

When he wasn't consumed by the coldness of the room, he'd think about the guys.

He wondered where they were.

He wondered if they knew he was missing, maybe they'd run into more trouble themselves and wouldn't be able to help him.

Maybe he'd be here for months before he was rescued.

Maybe he wouldn't last months, maybe they'd kill him before that.

Murdock considered moving again, maybe that chair would be warmer than the floor.

He moved his bruised and battered body round slowly and carefully, still staying down on the floor until he saw the chair.

Damn, it was metal, he'd never really noticed before. That would be just as cold as the stone floor then.

He guessed it was just as well as he was not sure if he'd be able to sit on a chair, his back and legs throbbed still.

One of the men, he couldn't recall which, had whipped him earlier.

His back had been repeatedly struck as had the back of his legs and he dared not look at his legs for fear of what he'd see. He'd seen enough of his blood pooled on the floor near him, that was bad enough.

He closed his eyes again, wishing that the pain would ease up enough for him to drift away from this place.

He carefully pushed himself off of his stomach and laid on his side.

The door opened and one of them came in and he saw a gleam of light hitting a metal object in his hand. He found he couldn't even remember their names when he saw them now, that was worrying.

He felt a kick to the stomach, making him curl into a ball to protect himself from being hit there again, but the next blow landed on his back, striking one of the many lash marks that lined him and causing him more agony. He was pushed so that his stomach again laid flat on the cold floor. A sudden weight was added to his back as the man sat on him.

The next thing he felt was the cold metal slicing into his skin.

******  
Part seven 

BA and Hannibal had little choice but to wait for Face to return from his meeting with Amy. 

Face had arranged to meet her at his apartment, but Hannibal wanted to be at ready in case Murdock called.

Waiting seemed to drag, not having anything to go on was driving them all crazy and they all harboured there own deep seated concerns over how far these people would take their sadistic enjoyment.

At some point whilst they were trying to busy themselves, their minds on other things, another package was delivered. 

Hannibal was frustrated that he'd missed the opportunity to catch someone red handed, but he'd missed it and he felt a new wave of guilt crash into him about how he had let Murdock down, again.

He was convinced that they would deliver by hand again. He opened the envelope, glancing into it before closing it quickly.

BA snatched the envelope from Hannibal, not wanting to see the contents, but having to know what was in it.

He couldn't tell what it was at first, but then he identified the small object as a bloody finger nail.

The phone rang, making Hannibal jump, but BA was there before it even got to the second ring, answering with a no-nonsense 'Yeah?'

There was nothing on the other end, silence was all that greeted BA. 

He handed the phone to Hannibal, who listened to the silence, who could hear footsteps in the background before the line went dead.

Hannibal slammed the phone down hard, "They're just playing with us, they know we don't have any leads, they've made sure of that." Hannibal started, angrily.

"That's not true." Said the voice from behind them.

Face said, walking into the door. "The talk with Amy proved quite helpful. Seems she's been keeping tabs on any of the people that we took down while we were working with her. You remember those creeps who bothered Ray and Trish? Few weeks back they 'went missing' while they were working off some of their sentence. Not been seen since. She was gonna call us if they were causing trouble, but as they seemingly disappeared, she assumed they'd gone off to Mexico or somewhere to start a new life." He dropped the corvettes keys on a table in front of him and waited to see what Hannibal had to say.

BA had something to say first. "Man, we gotta find the crazy fool. Those guys were trouble, they killed Ray and the Sheriff of the town, he could be in real danger." He knew the pilot was already in danger and they were making him suffer, but now knowing who was behind it made BA even more anxious.

Hannibal knew these men were deadly, especially as they'd done time because of the team. "We have to find Murdock, now." Hannibal said.

"We will." Face said. 

"We need a plan." Hannibal said, lighting a cigar he'd taken from his pocket.

After several minutes of puffing and pacing, he stopped and looked to BA and Face. "We're gonna do a stake out." He said.

"What?" Face asked.

"Those guys hand delivered that first package whilst they still were here, probably as they were taking Murdock away. Then the sent the second one from where ever they're staying. The third, came just now, hand delivered again. They're getting cocky, calling us and they're gonna make a mistake." Hannibal sat down again. "If we make them think this place is deserted they won't be as cautious about delivering here."

Hannibal waited to see what the team thought of the plan.

"Okay, sounds like a good idea." Face said.

BA nodded his agreement, glad they were starting to get somewhere. 

******

Murdock had been out a while.

He slowly looked around the room, finding he was once again alone.

He saw a lot of dried blood all over his body, then saw a chunk of flesh missing from his left arm. These guys had just sliced a chunk out of him, leaving a gaping hole.

The hole oozed blood, weeping badly, and he could see muscle and maybe bone, he couldn't tell for sure because of the blood. If he looked closer he'd be able to tell, but that wasn't an option right now. Seeing it made him feel sick and he really could do without throwing up as well right now.

His mind, again, wandered to his teams whereabouts.

His thoughts had been all about them, worried sick that maybe they needed his help.

He couldn't just wait for rescue, he'd never done it before and he wouldn't do it now.

He needed a plan to get him out of this place alive, then he could find out if the team were all right.

His own plans were about to come crashing down, as the thoughts of his tormentors once again returned to him, and his next punishment.

******  
Part eight 

Hannibal waited, repeating to himself that it would only be a little longer then they'd have Murdock back where he belonged.

He hated to have to wait longer, but it was what had to be done.

Amy had called several times, knowing something was up, but the team didn't tell her anything, they needed no distractions at the minute, and sadly, she was one.

Hannibal rubbed his eyes, trying to remove the gentle nagging from his eyes telling him they needed rest.

Then it happened.

The envelope was pushed through the door.

Hannibal rushed up to the door, looked through the window and saw the man wearing a red cap and black trousers and top move away from the house.

Damn, it had worked.

They had assumed that no one was here.

Only twice had they hand delivered here and although they were here the second time, the 'postman' wouldn't have known that.

They had always waited until the team were some place else before delivering, but not this time.

The team had gone out, all three and had all gone to a different apartment.

BA had made the wine cellar in Hannibal's apartment into a escape tunnel, leading to the sewers.

So, once at the new apartment, they had someone come over, a friend of Face's who was similar build to Hannibal.

Hannibal had disguised himself as the friend, and headed out. He was then able to use BA's tunnel to get to the apartment.

Maybe it was a little elaborate but it had worked, and it'd be worth it as soon as they got Murdock back

He picked the walkie talkie out from his pocket.

"Face, look for a guy, all in black with a red baseball cap." Hannibal.

"Right." Face replied, he was on the rooftops near the apartment. "Got him. BA, he's getting into, oh great, a taxi, but he's driving it, he's not the passenger."

"I'll get 'im." BA replied.

Hopefully, they'd start to get somewhere now.

******

"What you doin' to him?" Curly yelled out to Deak and Logan from the other room.

"He reeks." Deak shouted back, "Gonna take the 'im out and hose 'im down." 

Curly returned to the television set, muttering to himself "Woulda been easier just to shoot the bastard."

******

BA's massive hands gripped tightly round the throat of the man he'd pulled out of the taxi a few minutes ago, before forcing him into the van Face had driven to pick them up.  
BA had followed in the car, just in case this man had been told about the van. 

They were taking him back to the apartment where Hannibal was waiting for them.

BA had no doubts that this man would tell them all they needed to know.

******

Face had called in to Hannibal, letting him know they were returning with the 'postman'.

Now, Hannibal had been left to wait for their return. 

Only one thing left to do: he ripped the lip of the envelope off,

A familiar smell hitting him, he peered into the bag.

Saw the blood.

Saw the flesh.

Saw the skin.

He closed his eyes, sealing it back up, best he could.

God, these guys were gonna pay.

******  
Part nine

Murdock shivered from the cold from his sodden body.

The two guys had dragged him out and hosed him down.

One of the men had returned inside, the other remained out with him.

He watched as the man picked something up and moved near to him.

He couldn't make out what it was, but he knew soon he'd find out, the hard way.

Several seconds later he felt a blunt metal object crushing his right hand with bone breaking force.

He cried out in pain, then the his other hand was crushed in the same manner.

He felt warm tears roll down his face at the excruciating pain throbbing from his hands.

The man pulled him off the floor and tied him to a nearby tree.

Then he left, leaving Murdock alone.

He looked at his surroundings, trying to keep his mind off of the damage done to his hands, a part of his mind needing to assess the damage the other part knowing he didn't need to know, no good would come from looking.  
Woods obscured everything and he knew he was in the forest deep, he heard no civilised sounds, no people and no traffic.

The sun was obscured behind the trees, keeping his body in the cool shade, but he needed the sun to warm his numbed limbs.

The weather was warm, you needed to be in the sunlight to feel it's warmth and the shade from the trees covered him, making the cold seem greater, the dampness not helping.

He just had to hang in there, for the guys.

Curiosity got the better of him and he glanced at his left hand. Two of his fingers were bent in an uneven fashion.  
He looked away quickly, having seen enough.

His rescue plan wasn't going very well, but it kept him going. He knew he had no chance of escaping, his hand too badly damaged to do anything.

Still he kept his mind off his tortured body by coming up with more and more elaborate plans to escape and save the team.

He'd do it.

Because there may not be anyone else to do it.

******

By the time BA and Face had returned with the man, Hannibal had removed the package and it's contents.

When BA shoved the man into the room, Hannibal drew his gun, pointing it at the man.

He pulled back the hammer, instantly grabbing the man's attention, who in fear, tried to move back away from Hannibal but ended up in a heap on the floor.

"P-Please, don't kill me." He stammered.

"Where are they?" Hannibal asked.

BA and Face exchanged a quick glance, Hannibal's tone was deadly, he was not prepared to waste any time.   
Face wondered what had happened since they had been gone.

"I swear I don't know. One of them just dropped the packages off to me and got me to deliver them. He paid me $300 to do it."

"Where did he drop them off at? Your house, your work?" 

"House. I can show you..." He started.

"You'll tell me. Your not leaving this place." Hannibal snapped.

"I'll tell you, I'll do whatever you want, but please, don't hurt me."

"You make me sick." Hannibal snarled. "BA, tie him up and throw him in the bathroom. Make sure he doesn't get out."

BA nodded, pulling the guy off the floor and pushing him towards the bathroom.

"Hannibal," Face began, as soon as they were out of earshot, "What the hell happened, what was in that package?"

"Don't bother lieutenant, just go give the rope to BA and get directions to that creeps house. We're gonna be the ones who take that next package."

With that Hannibal turned and walked away from Face.

Face grabbed the rope and took it to BA, wondering what secret it was Hannibal was keeping. 

******

Murdock could hear one of the men approaching him.

When the man stopped in front of him, Murdock could smell the alcohol on him.

More footsteps followed, but only one other set, which meant that someone was still inside.

"Cut him down." Someone said.

It was the third guy, he'd come out now and was walking towards them. "I just had a great idea about the next message."

One of the men got out his gun and shot through the rope, Murdock falling hard to the floor.

The man walked over to Murdock, and knelt on his back, grabbing a handful of the pilots hair. 

Yanking the man's head back sharply, he said, "This is gonna hurt, so try not to scream." 

One of the men threw a gag over to the man on Murdock's back, and he put the gag in place.

Murdock felt an incredible pain from his head, and a ripping and tearing which made his body shiver out of fear.

He closed his eyes as the pain hit, now opening them, he saw a lump of hair and skin plop to the ground just in front of him.

Blood began obscuring his vision, as it rushed forward from the top of his head.

The man kneeling on him got off, and a few minutes later, he felt blows from their boots ambush his beaten body.

It took mere seconds for him to pass out.

******  
Part ten

Curly dragged the man's body behind him, taking him back to the room where they had kept him.

He pushed him in, and closed the door, locking it, but realising it was not needed, the guy was in no shape to sit up, let alone get up and walk away. His hands were still tied up, but there was no sense in taking risks.

Deak was preparing the package for Curly to take out.

He'd use the same guy as before, he was cheap and would do anything for the money.

Maybe they'd get him to bury the body once they'd finished.

Curly smiled at that. He liked having someone else do the dirty work.

******

The place was a mess.

It was a scummy little traitor park, where the man had been living.

Face understood why he'd taken the money, probably had no idea what he was into.

Most people would probably grab whatever chances came to get out of this place.

Hannibal was still wired, and Face had attempted several more times to get something out of him, but all the attempts had proven fruitless and he'd ended up making Hannibal more pissed off. Not that it had been hard.

BA was still silent as usual, no real change. He'd keep it bottled up until there was a more convenient time for him to let loose.

Once they'd arrived, he'd gone to watch out along the road, waiting for someone to come.  
They needed to have someone outside, just in case.

Face was desperate for someone to talk to. If Murdock was here, there wouldn't be such tension, that went without saying as they wouldn't have this problem if Murdock was there, but that was beside the point.

Murdock just eased tension. He had a natural ability for it. Even if he ended up frustrating you, you had at least forgotten what had been bugging you.

"Someone's coming." BA said, through the walkie talkie.

"Okay. Stand by." Hannibal ordered.

They watched, unseen, from the window.

The man approached and knocked on the door. Hannibal looked at Face, Face nodded to let him know he was ready.

Hannibal opened the door, pulling the door open and grabbing the man outside.

He yanked him in, throwing him to the floor.

Face already had his gun trained on him.

The man, Curly, was surprised and held up his hands in a show of defeat. 

Face began to lower his gun, when Curly pulled his out, he fired of two shots into each man's chest and watched as they hit the ground. 

Curly stood there a moment, the reality at what he'd done not having sunk in yet and he pulled the package from his pocket and dropped it onto the nearest dead body.

He smiled as he left, taking a quick glance back at what he'd done.

BA moved through the shadows, having completed his part of the plan and hoping that Face and Hannibal's bit had been just as successful.

******  
Part eleven

Deak looked at the man in the room. He'd hardly moved since he'd come in from outside.

He was almost unrecognisable as the man they'd brought here.

If he died here, the rest of The A-Team would kill them.

And they'd show as much mercy as they had.

Deak swallowed hard, leaving the room, before returning with a blanket and throwing it over the man.

It wasn't much, but he figured it was too late to save him anyway.

******

BA went into the traitor, finding both Hannibal and Face on the floor.

There was no sign of Curly.

He went over to Face, who was nearest, shaking him.

"Faceman." He called. 

Face looked at BA. "You do it?" He asked, as Hannibal sat up.

"Yeah. His on his way, he ain't far ahead, we'll catch up in no time." BA agreed, helping Face off the floor.

"Good plan, colonel." Face said.

"It's only good if we get to Murdock on time." Hannibal said, now up and ready to go.

"We will." Face said, meeting Hannibal's eyes for a brief second.  
He knew Hannibal had his doubts, this one really was too close to call.

"Let's get going." Hannibal said, getting up and heading for the door.

Face followed behind and stopped, noticing the envelope that had slid on the floor between where he and Hannibal had been.

He grabbed it, opening it quickly and looked inside.

He didn't hear the footsteps coming towards him, and suddenly he was face to face with Hannibal.

Hannibal snatched the package from him, looking inside. 

He held onto the package. "Let's go." He said.

Face knew where Hannibal's anger had come from now, feeling it well up inside him too.

He took a couple of breaths to compose himself, then followed Hannibal to the van.

These guys were so dead.

******

Murdock felt consciousness return to him.

He felt so physically exhausted, lifting his head was too much trouble.

He stayed flat on the floor, not even noticing the blanket covering him.

He journeyed back into a deep sleep, knowing he had little choice but to reserve any energy he had into just staying alive.

******

The door swung open, wildly as Curly rushed into the room.

"Shit." He yelled, a mixture of fear and excitement rushing through his veins.

Deak and Logan looked up upon his arrival. "What?" Logan asked.

"Guess who I just ran into?" Curly said, the manic grin on his face just reminded Deak how crazy the man could be.

"Don' know?" Logan said, sipping his beer, not interested in the story.

"Those two buddies of our little hostage in there." Curly said, the grin growing even more, to a more sinister smile. "The blonde and the old guy."

"Your shitting me, right? They'll kill us." Deak said, panic over taking him.

"Not unless they're gonna spook us to death, shot 'em both in the guts, left 'em for dead." Curly said, grabbing a beer himself and sitting on the chair.

"What about the third guy?" 

"Fuck knows. He weren't there." Curly said.

"So whatta we gonna do with him in there. Ain't much point keepin' a rotting body in there if we ain't got no use for it." Logan said, keen to get rid of the mess.   
As much as he'd enjoyed the last few days, he wanted to wash his hands of this guy.  
If the cops were to show up, they'd be busted again.

"Well, whatever. We can finish him of whenever we like, ain't really that important. Let the bastard linger in there for a while longer, give him a taste of what it's like to be in jail."

Deak kept quiet. Curly had killed The-A team, or at least half of them. They had another one half dead. 

This had been the plan and it was working, so why did it feel so wrong?

******  
Part twelve

Face, Hannibal and BA had moved carefully through the trees surrounding the house.

It was a good location, typical bad guys retreat, middle of the woods. 

BA made his way to the back of the house.

Hannibal and Face were on watch.

BA peered through the first window, seeing the three men sitting around, drinking beer.

The all had their backs turned, all facing the front door and the TV set. BA pointed to the window and held up three fingers, letting the others know where the men were.

He carefully crept along to the next window, seeing an empty bedroom.

The third room was where he found Murdock.

BA signalled to Hannibal that this was where Murdock was.

BA carefully opened the window, as quiet as possible. Thankfully the place was more of cabin than house and all the windows were low set, making it easy for BA to climb in.

He climbed in, as Face moved over to the window.

Hannibal's instructions were clear, get Murdock out first.

Hannibal kept an eye on the house and the movement in the room where the men were.

He couldn't see them from where he was, but if they were to get up, he'd have a clear shot.

BA made his way over to Murdock. He'd taken all his gold chain of but one, just in case they had given him away. He'd kept one for luck.

He carefully picked Murdock up, blanket too, not paying much attention to how badly hurt Murdock was, it'd do no good until they got him to the van.

He heard a voice from the other room say 'Did I hear something?' and another, 'I'll go check it out'.

Hannibal hadn't dare shoot until Murdock and BA were out. For all he knew the pilot may be tied up and BA would need longer.

BA kept moving Murdock to the window. He knew someone would be in any minute, but he positioned himself so if they shot at them, they'd hit him and not Murdock.

Deak opened the door, seeing the prisoner in the arms of the huge black man and another, the blonde one, who Curly had shot earlier, standing at the window.

Deak stood at the door. "It's alright, he's jus' moving round a bit."

The door closed again, Face and BA exchanging glances, not quite believing what happened.

It didn't matter, they had to get Murdock out.

BA passed Murdock through the window into Faces waiting arms.

Murdock's form wasn't easy to take, him being unconscious and therefore, unco-operative made it harder for Face to hold him, but he managed to hold Murdock up, while BA climbed out of the window.

BA then picked Murdock up again and they headed to where Hannibal was waiting.

"Get him to the van." Hannibal said, not even sparing Murdock more than a brief glance. If he looked at what they'd done to him,he knew he'd kill these guys.

BA carried Murdock to the van a short distance away, but concealed by the dense trees.

"What happened?" Hannibal asked, as BA went to the van.

"One of them came in the room as they heard something, saw us and told the others it was just Murdock moving around." Face said.

"That was nice." Hannibal said, the words and tone not matching. "I wonder how much he thought about it while he tortured him?"

Face closed his eyes, not wanting to think about it, but the image of Murdock's bloodied body still fresh in his mind. "He still saved us." Face said. He agreed with Hannibal, but it was a small mercy he had shown, when none had been expected.

"Let's do it." Hannibal said, as he and Face moved towards the building. ready to extract their revenge on the men.

******  
Part thirteen

Face climbed in the room where Murdock had been held, while Hannibal made his way to the front. He was giving the colonel two minutes to get there and then they'd teach these guys a lesson.

Face had checked his watch as soon as he got in, making sure he didn't move too early or too late.

Something caught his eye, and he found he had to look at the room around him.

This was the dungeon where Murdock had been kept all this time.

He could see the blood stains on the floor where Murdock had been, and the metal chair sat in the corner of the room.

He glanced at his watch again, time to go.

He burst through the door at the same time Hannibal made it through the front door.

"Surprised to see us." Hannibal spat, at them, noting the dumbfounded look on Curly's face.

Curly grabbed for his gun, knocking bottles of beer over in the effort to get the weapon.

Logan reacted the same way, although he found his gun and he fired wildly, missing both men.

Hannibal squeezed the trigger of his gun, once at Logan, stopping him from shooting any more.

Face's gun was trained on Curly and he did likewise, stopping him.

There was one left. Deak. The man who had showed mercy and who hadn't been desperate to get his gun out.

He sat there calmly, waiting for the bullet to hit him.

It didn't happen.

A horn cut through the silence that had landed on the three men.

"We gotta go." Face said.

"Take care of this." Hannibal said, as he walked out the front door.

Deak heard the van roar off, and quickly made a phone call.

******

Part fourteen

The van was almost silent, Hannibal in the back taking care of Murdock, with Face there to help, while BA drove.

"Where we goin'?" BA asked. Hannibal had told BA to just drive when they'd got in, but he couldn't just keep driving all over the place, there was still a chance that the MP's would spot them.

Hannibal stayed quite, his mind thinking of where to go, while fixing up Murdock as best as he could. "Face. any ideas?"

Face looked at Hannibal for a moment. "Ideas? Hospital's a pretty good idea if you ask me." He said, not meaning for it to sound quite as harsh as it had done.

"If we take him to hospital we can't stay with him." Hannibal explained rationally. "It's the first place I'd take him if we could...."

"What, you're worried about getting caught, about us getting caught..." Face continued.

"Listen, it's not an option. If we took Murdock to hospital and left him there while we split, which is what he'd want us to do, he'd be on his own. And, if we were to get caught by the MP's, he'd be on his own. If we stay at the hospital with Murdock and the MP's find us, they'll arrest all of us. He'd end up in some high security prison in the psychiatric ward, and, yet again, he'd be on his own. So which of those options do you like best, Lieutenant?" Hannibal wasn't angry with Face, just trying to get him to see this wasn't the easiest choice to make.

"Start thinking together and come up with something, 'fore I have to take charge o' you two." BA said from the front. They knew he'd do it too, if he thought they weren't do what was right for Murdock.  
It would never come to that.

"How bad is he?" Face asked. 

"Bad, but I've seen worse." Hell, like that meant a lot, they'd seen stuff real bad in Nam, but it was different when you weren't in a war.

"We can deal with it?" Face asked.

"I think so. He needs some stitches, which any of us can do. And, he's got a fever, but nothing we can't sort out. We'll stay with him 24-7, if he gets any worse, we'll take him to a doctors."

"Okay. We'll look after him then." Face said.

"Right." Hannibal said.

It was a joint decision.

"Face get the map out and find the nearest doctors surgery from here. We'll find that, and then you'll have to scam us a place near by, so if he does need help, we'll have it."

Face nodded, moving away from the back of the van to collect the map.

******

The place had scammed was nice, nothing too big. 

Hannibal listened to the news reporter as she spoke from outside a prison. "....the call came yesterday where police were informed to the prisoners whereabouts. They collected the three men who had handed themselves into police. Two of them were taken to hospital for minor bullet wounds. They will continue with their sentences given to them for the murders...." 

The door closed interrupting Hannibal's viewing as BA entered with groceries.

"You get enough?" He asked seeing the three fully packed bags in BA's arms.

"There's more in the van." BA answered. 

Hannibal got up and headed out to the van to help the mechanic with the rest of the shopping.

"Any change?" BA asked, joining Hannibal at the van.

Hannibal shook his head. "It's early still. Face'll let us know."

******

Murdock woke and felt the sun shining on him through a window, making him feel warm at last.

He slowly opened his eyes, not wanting to draw attention to himself in case any of the men were in the room.  
It was then that he noticed the change of environment. The room was nothing like the one he remembered.

He noticed a figure, sitting by the window, looking to what was beyond the glass. It took him a few seconds to realise who the person was.

"Face?" He asked, not sure that it was actually his friend sitting there.  
The blonde at the window turned round, his face disfigured hideously....

Murdock gasped awake.

Hannibal sat on the bed, holding a cloth to the pilots forehead. "Ssshhhh, it's okay." He soothed. 

Murdock had woken several times, but never for long and he was still gripped by the fever, although it was starting to break at last.

There was no recognition in his fevered gaze, so Hannibal continued to gently speak to him, hoping that maybe some of it would sink in. 

A few minutes later and Murdock had drifted back into an uneasy sleep.

******

Part fifteen

Face watched as Murdock slept soundly.  
According to Hannibal, Murdock was in better condition than he had been, the fever having subsided now.

Murdock still hadn't fully regained consciousness though, and that was worrying Face more than anything.

He was pleased to see the change in Murdock's sleep pattern's though. He could now sleep peacefully without being woken by constant nightmares.  
Murdock also looked like he'd regained some colour, he'd looked pasty before, but now had a healthier glow.

The lashes on his skin were healing well, Hannibal and himself had stitched a lot of them up. Almost all the bruises had now faded into obscurity. The cut on Murdock's left arm, where they had cut a chunk out of him, was still problematic. They had bandaged the wound and treated it was huge amounts of antiseptic, but there was little else they could do. The wound would leave a scar, but Face hoped maybe a doctor would be able to help with that later.

The scalp wound wasn't too bad and they had stitched that wound up to, although Face knew Murdock would fret about it more then any other injury. He was very sensitive to his hair and lack of it, and losing some like that wasn't a great thing. His hands had been damaged badly. Both hands had at least one broken bone in it, and there was also a few dislocated fingers. Hannibal had made sure all the bones in Murdock's hand were as lined up as possible and they'd fixed up his finger too. The only other thing was Murdock's missing fingernail, but that may grow back itself.

Face was frustrated that Murdock hadn't fully regained consciousness yet, they had been waiting so long just to get the pilot back, having to wait around again seemed cruel.  
Hannibal had told Face it would take Murdock a while before he got the strength up to return to full consciousness, his body was weak, but it was better that he rested up for a while and healed as much as possible.

Waiting was always the hard part.

******

Murdock could sense someone next to him as he opened his eyes.

He turned to see who was near him.

A smile spread across his face as he saw the sleeping form of Templeton Peck, sitting on a chair, his head resting against the wall.

Murdock watched Face sleep for a few minutes, finding something relaxing about it. 

He'd have stayed there longer, but he felt the overwhelming need to pee, so carefully slipped out of bed, testing his legs first before daring to put any weight on them.  
He carefully walked across the room, Face still sound asleep and gently opened the door.

Outside the room, was a lounge where he found BA Baracus contently fiddling with some electrical device or another.  
He had the overwhelming urge to tease the big guy, but he had to find the bathroom right away.

He moved over to where BA was, still careful with each step. "BA. Where's the bathroom?" He asked.

BA's head spun round so quickly Murdock could imagine that it would spin right off. Luckily it didn't happen.

"Whattcha doin' up?" BA asked, sounding about as shocked as BA ever really sounded.

"I need the bathroom, where the hell is it?" Murdock said, he wouldn't have been quite so direct to the point if it wasn't an absolute emergency.

BA pointed to a room, and Murdock headed there at a quick pace.

As soon as the door closed, BA got up, quickly going to the bedroom Murdock had emerged from and finding Face asleep. "Hey." He called waking Face up immeditly.

"Wha-" Face started. He turned to Murdock's bed, instinctively. "Where is he?" Face asked.

"Bathroom." BA answered before heading outside to find Hannibal.

Face quickly followed BA out into the lounge, stopping in the room where BA went straight outside to where Hannibal was.

The bathroom door opened, and when the two men locked eyes, a grin spread across Murdock's face. "You looked so cute, I just couldn't wake ya." Murdock said.

Face smiled back at Murdock. "You're not supposed to be up, you need to rest."

"I need to pee." Murdock said, before adding, "You know, it's not easy when you're hands are all bandaged and hurt like hell."

"I can get you something for the pain." Face said. "Now, get over here and sit down before Hannibal and BA get in here and kill you."

Murdock did as Face said. Seconds later the rest of the team came in.

"Murdock, how you doing?" Hannibal asked.

"Fine." Murdock replied. A weak grin on his face.

"You need something to eat, luckily I know how to make a great chicken soup." Hannibal said, heading off towards the kitchen.

"Oh good." Murdock said, somewhat sarcastically. Hannibal always bragged about his food, but Murdock had yet to try any of it. Something always came up before he actually tasted it.

BA and Face continued to stand there looking at the pilot, making Murdock feel uncomfortable under the scrutiny.

"Er, guys, starting to feel like a goldfish." Murdock said, snapping both men out of the trance like state they had been in.

"Oh, sorry." Face said. 

"Yeah, we'll just go on with what we were doin.'" BA said.

"Well I can't really, I was watching Murdock and I think he's hand enough of that." Face said.

"You weren't watching him, you were sleeping." BA replied.

"I've got something to do anyway." Face said, ignoring what BA had said. He also disappeared into the kitchen and returned several minutes later with two tablets for Murdock and a glass of water.

Murdock took the tablets and thanked Face.

Face went back to help Hannibal make the soup.

BA continued to work on his project, but Murdock felt bored now. He hated to be the centre of attention, unlike if Face is in the same position he always lapped up the attention. But now everyone was doing there own things and Murdock couldn't do much, he felt boredom settle in.

"Hey, BA, what happened to those guys?" Murdock asked, he needed to know where there were now.

"Jail." BA said. Murdock sensed from his one word answer that BA didn't wanna talk about it.

"Can you turn the TV on, BA?" Murdock asked.

BA reached over to the TV set and flicked the switch on, he changed channels until he found something Murdock would want to watch. Cartoons.

"Thanks." Murdock said, content to watch the animated adventures of Wendal the Wallaby.

He soon drifted into a relaxing sleep.

******  
Part sixteen

Hannibal and BA were busy packing all of their things up, ready to take the trip back to their a new apartments Face had set up. He'd got them two, ones nice and near to each other.

Face was nearly in the vette ready to go, when Murdock caught up with him. Murdock had recovered quickly, never one to just lay about and he looked pretty good.

"Hey, Faceman." Murdock said, as he approached the car where Face stood. "I never got a chance to thank you,er, well I did really and I kinda forgot to, but anyway, er, thank you."

Face smiled at how Murdock tripped over his words. "What for?"

"Well, you know, saving my life." Murdock said.

"You don't need to thank me, it's nothing you wouldn't have done." 

"Actually, I was worried about you guys the whole time." Murdock confessed.

"Why?" 

"Well, it's just after you had been gone a couple o' days, I was worried that maybe the MP's had ya, and that if I was with those guys, you wouldn't have anyone to bail ya out." 

"Murdock. I can't believe you. You get captured and tortured, and you worry about us. You amaze me."

"Er, Face. You know these apartments you've got?" Murdock asked.

"Yeah." Face was surprised by the sudden change in topic.

"Can I share with you?" Murdock asked.

"Of course. Any reason why?" Face asked, having a feeling he may know why Murdock wanted to stay with him.

"Hannibal's chicken soup, I just can't take it any more." Murdock confessed

Face smiled. He really did think things would be alright now.

BA appeared from the house, looking mad.

"Hey fool." He bellowed at Murdock.

"Maybe we should go." Murdock said, moving to the far side of the vette.

"What have you done, Murdock?" Face asked.

"Nothing!" Murdock exclaimed innocently.

"Crazy man's Cut all my socks up." BA said, his voice booming.

"Why did you cut all of BA's socks up Murdock?" Face asked.

"ET needed some new clothes, his arms and neck are so thin, though that he needs them tailor made, and BA's socks were just the right type." Murdock explained.

"Could have used yours."

"He's allergic to my wash powder." Murdock explained.

"Let's get going." Hannibal called, emerging from the house.

"You ain't coming near me again, fool." BA yelled at Murdock.

Things seemed to be pretty much back to normal.

Face smiled at Murdock as he got into the vette, silently making a vow that Murdock wouldn't be hurt like that any more.

The End


End file.
